Snooker: O'Sullivan sublime as Doherty crashes out
He is top of the bill wherever he plays, and yesterday, those who witnessed Ronnie O'Sullivan scale new heights in the Northern Ireland Trophy were treated to a demonstration of genius.
Belfast's Waterfront Hall is located only a short drive from the birthplace of snooker legend Alex Higgins.
But the Hurricane, even at his mesmerising best, never came close to firing in five century breaks in a best-of-nine frames match -- as O'Sullivan on the world legend's home territory.
In fact, no one in snooker history had achieved the towering feat until O'Sullivan unleashed his quality quintet of tons on the way to beating Ali Carter 5-2 for a place in the quarter-finals.
But, to use a Jimmy Cricket catchphrase -- there's more.
In the fifth frame, O'Sullivan potted 15 reds with blacks and the six colours for his seventh 147 in professional competition, only one adrift of the octet of maximums constructed by Stephen Hendry.
Even a fiery cushion bounce -- in potting the green -- could not scupper the twice world champion's chances of qualifying for the bonus of £22,000 (€31,600).
He made a brown -- testing under any circumstances -- look straightforward, and the rest was routine.
It was the 59th maximum in pro-tournament play, the 36th in a world-ranking event, the 30th captured by the television cameras and the third already this season -- after preceding 147s from Jamie Burnett and Tom Ford.
O'Sullivan, who has not captured a world ranking title since the 2005 Irish Masters at Dublin's Citywest Hotel, goes forward to play Dubliner Fergal O'Brien, who, in typical fashion, ground out a 5-3 victory over Barry Hawkins late last night.
Mark Allen, the promising 21 year-old from Antrim, booked his debut in the quarter-final of a world ranking event with a hugely popular 5-3 win over Welshman Ryan Day, runner-up in the season opening Shanghai Masters.
But there was another disappointing outing for Ken Doherty, unexpectedly beaten 5-1 by Kent-based left-hander Gerard Greene, who will now provide Allen's next opposition.
Shaun Murphy beat Stephen Hendry 5-2 while there was disappointment for defending champion Ding Junhui as he lost 5-3 to Stephen Maguire.
- Phil Yates
